Hyundai To Launch A Range Of Electric Cars In India

The South Korean auto giant, Hyundai is ready to introduceits first electric vehicle – the Kona SUV – in India in the second half of 2019. Initially, the carmaker will import the electric SUV via CKD (Completely Knocked Down) route and price it above Rs 20 – 25 lakh. Besides launching the Kona, the company aims to expand its electric product portfolio and serve customers of different price segments.

The upcoming Hyundai electric vehicle range will include a sedan, a few compact SUVs and small cars. While the local assembly of the electric vehicles (Kona) will begin in 2019 at Hyundai’s Chennai plant, the local manufacturing is likely to start a year later. Currently, the South Korean carmaker is studying different aspects of the local battery manufacturing and components sourcing procedure. Read: Hyundai Kona SUV – What To Expect

Hyundai Kona Electric SUV Picture Gallery

The local manufacturing will reduce production cost of the electric vehicles, and help the carmaker achieve competitive pricing. Furthermore, the incentives offered by the Indian government for supporting electric vehicles under the FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) scheme will work in favour of the carmaker. Pictures – Hyundai Kona Iron Man Edition

Talking to ETAuto, Y K Koo, MD, Hyundai Motor India, said, “We want to have deeper footprints in the Indian electric vehicle market and are eagerly waiting for government’s support in this direction. Kona is the starting point, and we have to select one product to start manufacturing from our Chennai plant — but it will take a little bit of time.”

Talking about Hyundai’s future plan, the South Korean carmaker will launch its all new small car (codenamed AH2) during 2018 festive season. While the Hyundai Carlino concept based compact SUV will hit showrooms in April, 2019, the Hyundai Tucson facelift and Elantra facelift will see a release sometime next year.